New South Wales Rural Fire Service crew members fight a fire near Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains of Australia on Thursday, October 24. Wildfires threatened the western suburbs of Sydney on Wednesday as high winds and temperatures created at least a dozen new fires that were blazing across a 1,000-mile stretch of New South Wales.

Embers blow around trees as a fire rages near Mount Wilson on October 24.

Firefighters battle flames in the Blue Mountains on October 24.

Thick smoke fills the sky near Faulconbridge on October 24.

A helicopter drops water on fires burning in Faulconbridge on Thursday, October 24.

Firefighters battle the fire front as it moves toward homes in Lake Macquarie, Australia, on Wednesday, October 23.

Firefighters battle the front line in Lake Macquarie on October 23.

Firefighters rest as they wait for the fire front to jump a freeway in Newcastle, Australia, on October 23.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service crews mop up an area after stopping a fire in Bilpin in the Blue Mountains of Australia on October 23.

A firefighter mops up on October 23, after a firestorm swept through Bilpin.

A volunteer firefighter holds onto his helmet as strong winds push through the Mount York fire area near the Blue Mountains on October 23.

Rural Fire Service firefighters set up a back burn near Springwood in the Blue Mountains on Tuesday, October 22.

People walk around the area behind their destroyed home in Winmalee on October 22.

A firefighter hoses flames near houses in Bilpin on October 22.

A man in Yellow Rock, Australia, stands in front of a building on Monday, October 21, that was destroyed by the bush fires scorching the country's eastern state of New South Wales.

A firefighter lights a back burn Monday, October 21 near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains. There are fears that the dozens of fires could become one possible "megafire."

Smoke from the bush fires is seen burning near Sydney in this October 21 photo released by NASA. New South Wales is Australia's most populous state. One in three Australians live there.

A firefighter puts in containment lines on the Darling Causeway, near Bell, Australia, on October 21.

A volunteer firefighter works to put out a fire near the Monkey Creek Cafe in Bell on Sunday, October 20.

Victims look over the remains of their home on Friday, October 18, after a devastating bush fire passed through Winmalee in the Blue Mountains.

In this photo provided by Zig Zag Railway, Rail Motor 2016 sits burnt out October 18 after the fires swept through the Australian heritage railway line near Lithgow.

A helicopter works to extinguish bush fires burning near Winmalee on October 18.

The charred coastline of Catherine Hill Bay is seen near Wyong, Australia, on October 18.

The Wallarah House, a historic site, sits burned to the ground in Catherine Hill Bay on October 18.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks during a bush fire briefing in Winmalee on October 18.

Smoke fills the sky above the Winmalee Country Club on October 18.

Firefighters fought scores of bush fires in New South Wales early on October 18.

Smoke and ash from wildfires blanket the Sydney skyline on Thursday, October 17.

Fitzsimmons reported 24 of the 66 active fires are uncontained and raging across a wide swath of Australia's most populous state destroying at least 193 homes in the Blue Mountains area.

"We do apologize and regret that we weren't able to save everything. We are very acutely aware, because our teams are embedded in those local communities- there has been so much damage and destruction and people have lost everything. They did their best and will continue to do their best," Fitzsimmons said on behalf of the fire services.

A combination of high winds and temperatures Wednesday had fueled fears the bush fires burning across a 1,000-mile stretch of New South Wales would spread even farther.

But thanks to fire crews' "extraordinary" work, helped out by some unexpected light rain overnight, the worst of the danger has been avoided, said Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

He praised firefighters for their skill and use of "aggressive and high-risk strategies" that included "backburning" operations -- fires begun by emergency crews to reduce potential tinder for the wildfires to feed on -- and thanked local communities for following instructions to keep them safe.

Many families living in the Blue Mountains can now return home, he said, although they should be aware that conditions could still change. Some schools will reopen Thursday in those areas judged less at risk.

But not everyone is out of danger yet. "There's a lot of very dangerous, a lot of very difficult firefighting occurring in communities still under threat," he said. "The fight is far from over."

Blue Mountain resident Pauline Worthington hopes buckets of water and damp grass will stop the fires from damaging her home, but will not be evacuating without trying to protect it.

"Stay and try to defend. If it gets too bad. We will go. Everything is packed ready to go," Worthington says.

A total fire ban is in place for the greater Sydney region until further notice.

More than 1,500 Australian firefighters continue to battle the flames, a fire service spokesman said late Wednesday.

Inspector Andrew Luke of the Rural Fire Service confirmed the State Mine fire near Lithgow was sparked as the result of live ordnance exercises on the Marrangaroo Army Range. Ten buldings and homes in the State Mine area have been destroyed since October 16.

The Australian Department of Defense issued a statement acknowledging Defense personnel were conducting an explosive training activity in the same area on the day the fire started. The department is conducting an investigation into the military exercise.

The Sydney Airport region and Lucas Heights areas are under extreme fire warnings. An emergency warning is also in place in the Gateshead area. Power is out at more than 1,300 homes in fire-stricken regions, according to Ausgrid, a state-owned electricity network.

Thursday is expected to bring an unwelcome change in the weather, said Fitzsimmons, with dry, southerly winds that could gust at up to 50 mph.

This could present "real challenges" for people living and working north of current active fire lines, he said.

A nearly 1,000-mile line

Local officials are surprised by the early arrival of bush fires this year as spring turns toward summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Fitzsimmons said the threat to Blue Mountains communities followed an unseasonably hot and dry winter.

"Never before have we seen the extent of damage and destruction and wide-scale fire activity at this time of the year," he said. "We need to remind ourselves that we have still got a long way to go as we look down the coming months into summer."

At least one death has been reported. A 63-year-old man died of a suspected heart attack October 18 while defending his home against a blaze on the New South Wales Central Coast, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The wildfires stretch along a nearly 1,000-mile line in New South Wales, from the far north of the state south of Brisbane -- which lies just across the Queensland border -- to east of Canberra, the country's federal capital. Fires in the Blue Mountains range west of Sydney are a particular worry as rough terrain has impeded firefighting efforts.

Helicopters circled Springwood, a Blue Mountains community under emergency alert status, dumping "tons and tons of water" as the flames neared homes, said CNN's Robyn Curnow.

"What we're seeing here is fires coming very, very close to residential properties," Curnow said. "There seems to be a sense of helplessness by some people as they are watching as these fires run out of control."

Scores of fires now have burned more than 126,000 hectares (311,000 acres), an area greater than the size of Los Angeles, said Rural Fire Service spokesman Andrew Luke.

Helicopters in the region have dropped not only water to extinguish fires but also incendiary devices on the tops of mountains to create preventive burns.

"These fires ran more than 30 kilometers in one day because it gets on top of a mountain, showers the next area with embers, starts new fires ahead of it," Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers in New South Wales said Tuesday.

The political blaze

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Australian radio that the United Nations' head of climate change was "talking through her hat" when she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour there is "absolutely" a link between the fires spreading across Australia's most populous state and global warming.

"The World Meteorological Organization has not established a direct link between this wildfire and climate change -- yet," U.N. Climate Chief Christiana Figueres said Monday. "But what is absolutely clear is the science is telling us that there are increasing heat waves in Asia, Europe and Australia; that there, these will continue; that they will continue in their intensity and in their frequency."

Abbott said on 3AW radio in Melbourne on Wednesday that bush fires have had a long history in Australia. "The official in question is talking through her hat, if I may say so," Abbott said.

"Climate change is real, as I've often said, and we should take strong action against it, but these fires are certainly not a function of climate change, they're a function of life in Australia," he said.

"We've had bad fires since almost the beginning of European settlement. It has been since humans were on the continent. The Aboriginal people managed the landscape through various forms of firestick farming."

CNN's Robyn Curnow,Mick Krever, Larry Register, and Jessica King contributed to this report.